slide 4 of 9This is taken from a transcript of a 1995 interview with the eminentPerennialist thinker and writer Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998).

Question : Could one say that the Hindu notion of darshan* has an application in experiencing art and beauty?

Frithjof Schuon: Of course, the Hindu notion of darshan applies to any esthetic or artistic experience; but in this case it also involves mental and auditive perceptions, not only vision.

* darshan: in Hinduism, the term has several meanings (click here for a fuller definition), but here is referring to the perception of higher realities through an intermediate cause such as a holy person or a work of sacred art.